DREAMS of a CLOUD
Peruse the many random ramblings of a writer-in-training as I build stories and develop my craft.
19 April 2024
For a long time, Moira didn’t answer. Then she asked, “How many people do you think are willing to challenge the Pirate King face to face? To all but demand something from him when they do?”
Elliott blinked. “That sounds like suicide.”
27 March 2024 part 2
Elliott kept circling back to one thought.
Why wasn’t it him? He was the prince, wasn’t he?
5 June 2023
“If you’re finished deciding what you want,” the woman cut in, “how would you feel about handing the ship over to me? Complete with crew and passengers.”
Everyone around inhaled sharply. Once again, who was this woman, that she could talk to the Pirate King as an equal? And what would she do once she got them?
The King just raised an eyebrow. “Hardly seems worth the effort. I was thinking I’d just scuttle it and be done with it.”
9 May 2023
The Pirate King stepped toward Elliott with a feral grin. “Tell you what, princeling. Now that we’re being honest, how about a deal? You come with us, and I spare all those refugees downstairs. By Fortune’s breath, I’ll even repair the ship, keep ‘em from starving to death. What do you say?”
5 May 2023
The man in the scarlet coat gave an order, and their cannons thundered. One of the masts on the Siren’s Lament cracked and fell, and it stopped dead in the water. They raised a white flag, but the pirates didn’t care. The man barked the order again, and another volley of cannon fire tore into the hapless ship.
28 April 2023
There was a pause from the cannons on the [Siren’s Lament]. Worried they’d been hit, Charles darted over to a portside porthole, and saw that no, the other ship was fine. They had just been turning their cannons…
Which were now aimed directly at the Dragon’s Flight.
Charles could only stare mutely as their sister ship prepared to fire on them. Elliott barely had time to pull him down before cannonballs tore into the ship, leaving them crippled in the water.
5 February 2023
Then her smile faded, and she looked down into her lap. “I guess not much about Charles has really changed, has it? He’s still a hero, still kind to everyone, and I… I’m just a silly girl with a silly crush.”
I frown and look up from my notebook. “It is not silly.”
Bethany looks up at me, eyes wide. I sigh. “Even if it doesn’t pan out. Even if you know he and Arylwen get together, and then you watch it happen. Those feelings helped you get here, today, no matter how timid you think you are.”
7 January 2023
“So, how’d it start? When’d you meet?”
Elliott chuckled. “Well, he already spent most of the time in the castle, since his mother was one of the royal bodyguards. At first, he mostly played with the other kids in the castle, but one day he randomly noticed that I spent my time alone in the library.”
“Ah. More of that brooding.”
He shot Arylwen a glare.
4 January 2023
This one is short, because I spent most of my evening planning things out for this story and trying to figure out who Elliott was better. In particular, I want to get a better grasp on the dynamic between Elliott and Charles, and the way that will evolve over the course of the series.
2 January 2023
Charles bit his lip, then asked, “W-were those wings real? Are you really a dragon?”
“Well, yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”
At that, Elliott finally reacted. “But, that means you’re some sort of royalty! And yet, you’re dressed like that, without any sort of royal dignity!”
Arylwen shrugged. “I don’t care about any of that crap.”
31 December 2022 part 2
“I’m Moira. You can call me ‘Captain’ or ‘Ma’am’. From now on, you’re not princes or servants or any of that. You are deckhands aboard the Dragon’s Flight, and that means you answer to me. Is that clear?”
Charles saluted and said, “Yes, Ma’am!”, but Elliott just glowered. “I’m not some lowly deckhand; I am a prince, and–”
“You were a prince, you mean,” Moira cut in. “You have no country, no authority, and no reason for me to respect you. If you want to change that–any of it–you start by doing what I say. Am I clear?”
“But–”
“Am I clear?”